LAP 36
Haruka

Miss Killer and Ryu are locked in combat for first place in the latest grand prix. Which of them will win? Who will come out on top in this vicious duel of high-speed tension?
Miss Killer will, after she pushes Ryu off the track and into a ditch. The announcer ponders what could have caused such a slip-up on his part, but Ryu's mind is on other matters. Miss Killer looks just like his 21st century girlfriend, Haruka Misaki!

Ryu's dreams are still haunted by Zoda, the criminal he's been chasing since the year 2051... when will the hunt for justice ever end?
Clank returns to Falcon House with trinkets from his visit to Alias, a fellow boy F-Zero fan, and brought home some intriguing discoveries - a photo of Ryu in his Formula One days, and what appears to be Haruka's diary.

Curious why those were in Alias's house, Clank explains his place is full of weird crap, including a secret room. That still doesn't explain why his stuff is in their house; perhaps Alias's family are Haruka's descendents, though that seems unlikely. Ryu takes the diary with him to check it himself, though Clank is disappointed he doesn't get to see what's inside. The first page of the diary mentions Haruka's friend Rose introducing her to Ryu for the first time, and as far as he was concerned, it was destiny.

That's a cute way of saying it; at that time Ryu was a chump driver who rarely won races, though Haruka was always there to lift him up and raise his spirits. The two grew more intimate, and Ryu had planned to surprise her with a proposal ring, though his fateful pursuit of Zoda obviously put a snag in that plan. Or more accurately, a car door right through his freakin' face.

The diary explains what happens after his accident: Rose, a New York police officer, granted Haruka permission to see Ryu, but it was too late, he was already being put into cold sleep... and that was the last time she ever saw him. While Ryu was destined to reawake in a world unlike his own...

... Haruka was left to cope with her grief. The police were doing everything they could to bring Zoda to justice, but that wasn't enough for her; if they couldn't do it, she'd take care of it herself. Rose tried convincing her not to, but it was to no avail. Haruka may have been scared, but this was the only answer she knew of.

Reading this, Ryu returns to Platoon HQ to request everything they have on his girlfriend, though Jody and Stewart already researched her back before they revived him. They found nothing concrete on her, but they'd be willing to run another check, though the two are concerned about the truth... if Haruka really is revived and under Dark Million's command...!

Ryu takes what he's learnt to Falcon House for everyone to muse upon. Well, it's pretty clear that Haruka never got revenge if Zoda's still alive and kicking 150 years later, though that doesn't mean no one came close. Back when Zoda was the tyrant of New York City, a fat cash reward was offered for his capture, and one of his minions snitched to the police: he would be attacking the East Bank.

Rose and the cops had a trap prepared for him, though despite having this in the bag, they still found Haruka lurking around the precinct, eager for justice.
The cops lay in wait, watching as Zoda crashed a lorry right through the front of the bank and began raising a ruckus--

-- only to find the joint deserted! Potted plants and pillars removed their disguises to reveal police capture drones, firing lasers at the dissidents and filling the zone with freezing gas. Zoda was captured at last! Rose rushed to Haruka's apartment to spring the good news on her, but the race queen was nowhere to be found.

Only a diary and a letter lay on her table, repeating her desire to take on Zoda herself. Rose penned the last entry in the diary, stating Zoda had been escorted to the freezing facility before she could reach the bank, and Haruka was nowhere to be found. She could only hope this diary would find its way into Ryu's hands...

The Platoon boo over the bummer ending. All those questions left unanswered! Did Haruka defeat Zoda? Where is she now? Ryu reflects on his first encounter with Miss Killer, and how his proposal ring is what sent her running. No way, that can't mean...!
Meanwhile, Zoda is having a right feast in Dark Million's space station, sending Bio Rex and Octoman running to supply him with more and more sugary treats. He never ate a bite when he was in Dark Space!

Miss Killer peeks in from the hallway to taunt him on what a big fat gorge he is, before going on her merry way. Zoda fumes over the woman's persistent attitude towards him, and wonders why she enjoys insulting him so much. His Reactor Might opens, expelling energy and refreshing his memory, allowing him to remember when he was caught in the police's freezing trap...

... when Haruka Misaki appeared from the mist, pointing a gun at him! Although determined, she couldn't bring herself to fire before the two of them were engulfed in the mist and frozen. So that must mean he wasn't alone when he was put in cold sleep - she was along for the ride! Things have just gotten interesting...

Burt's F-Zero Classroom: So what's up with cold sleep anyway? It's a system designed for convenient space travel but also to store its contents for long lengths of time; Ryu, for instance, was put in cold sleep until medical science could tend his mortal injuries. Zoda, meanwhile, was frozen because nobody wanted him around. Burt wishes he could put Black Shadow in cold sleep forever.

Being a clipshow, this episode reuses footage like a motherfuck even outside of its flashbacks; whole sequences are lifted and redubbed for the new context, leading to some dodgy flow from cut to cut.